Your brand is your customer experience

Most of the time when I hear this, it means, "We need to update our logo."

Your brand is not your logo. Your logo is part of your brand, but there is so much more. Your brand is also:

Your customer service rep in your call center

Your store front

Your in-person salespeople

Your website

Your signage

Your presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and more

Your advertising

Your online customer reviews

Your recommendations - both word-of-mouth and online

In the old days, companies carefully controlled their brands, telling prospects what to think of them. Today, that control has reversed. Today, the prospects control the brand. They can instantaneously comment on an experience they had with your organization. Both good and bad. This forced transparency requires organizations to manage their brands in an entirely different manner.

The brand is no longer what the organization says it is. Rather, the brand is now defined at every touch point. Every exposure. It is shaped by how the organization communicates, but it is more powerfully formed by how the organization acts. These all add up to a sum total that is an organization's brand.

Here is the shorthand for this new era of branding: Your brand is your entire customer experience.